The owners of the López Bakery & Restaurant at W. Historic Mitchell Street will permanently close their business once the building they are located in is sold.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
November 5, 2023
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Saturday, both Cindy and Jorge López, the owners of López Bakery & Restaurant at the 1100 block of W. Historic Mitchell Street announced on their López Bakery & Restaurant Facebook (FB) page that they have decided to permanently close the bakery once their building where the corner popular bakery business has been located for the last 50 years is sold.
According to the City of Milwaukee tax assessment, the building at the 1100 block of W. Historic Mitchell Street is valued at $269,100, the corner building was built in 1929.
The López's decision to close the bakery business was contributed by their "financial situation and navigating challenging economic times."
"Since Covid, we were hit with a series of challenges and family health issues which made it incredibly difficult to maintain daily operations especially after we were forced to limit our services during the pandemic," the López's wrote in the López Bakery & Restaurant Facebook post.
On January 24, the López Bakery & Restaurant announced a brief closing of their business as a result of a basement flood, also one of the ovens had broken down, a death in the family and a family medical matter. A community food brunch " Pay As You May" invite fundraiser was organized by Steve Ozbolt of Emerald City Catering & Events at S. 13 St. was held to help the López's during their financial burden, all the proceeds, more than $15,000 raised was donated to the López's. The Carmen High School students volunteered to help in the food brunch fundraiser as well, according to the López's.
In addition, a GoFundMe page by López Bakery raised $8,571 of a goal of $15,000.
The López Bakery & Restaurant were able to reopened around February 4, 2023 just before the food brunch fundraiser took place.
In July 2021, the López Bakery & Restaurant was recognized by the Milwaukee Bucks for making green tamales after the Bucks won the Eastern Conference Championship in early July and were in the NBA finals for 2021.
Jóse López in 1973 first opened the López Bakery in the Southside of Milwaukee and it was later located at the 600 block of W. National Ave., then it eventually moved to the 1100 block of W. Historic Mitchell Street, where a restaurant was added. The López's later opened another location at the 1600 block of W. Lincoln Street, but it eventually closed.
In 2012, Cindy López and Jorge López, a fourth generation baker took over the López Bakery & Restaurant after purchasing it for $70,000 at the time from his father Jóse López, after he retired, City tax assessment records show. Jóse ran the bakery and Restaurant until 2011 with his wife, Amparo López. Amparo, 78, originally from Coahuila, Mexico passed away on May 15, 2023. Amparo is survived by her husband of 60 years Jóse and her three children, Jorge, Jóse Jr. and Diana, according to the local obituary.
Jóse and Amparo López immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1967, where Jóse's father and grandfather were mexican bakers by trade.
The following is the complete post on the López Bakery & Restaurant FB page.
It is with great sadness, that we announce the permanent closing of Lopez Bakery. The bakery will remain open until the building is sold. This has not been an easy decision and one we have struggled with for some time. After careful consideration of our financial situation and navigating challenging economic times, we felt this was best for not only our business but our family. Since Covid, we were hit with a series of challenges and family health issues which made it incredibly difficult to maintain daily operations especially after we were forced to limit our services during the pandemic. During these challenging times, we were blessed with the support of the community to help our small business stay afloat. However, in spite of our greatest efforts, we felt this was the best decision.
The Lopez family is proud of what we have accomplished in the last 50 years. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as a minority, small business in the Hispanic community, local farmers markets and all of Southeastern Wisconsin. We ask that you please continue to support other small businesses and shop local as much as possible.
We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful employees over the years who were like family. And of course, thank you to all our loyal customers for the many years of patronage.
Again, it will be business as usual until the building is sold.
We love you all and are eternally grateful for the 50 years!
Jorge and Cindy Lopez
Update: The López Bakery will permanently close on January 14, 2024.
Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA)
HNNUSA: Donations accepted/se aceptan donaciones: https://tinyurl.com/3y8ej92t
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